Beto O'Rourke calls for better veteran care at El Paso town hall

Rep. Beto O'Rourke held his first town hall meeting with constituents since he was sworn into office for the 16th Congressional District Saturday at Riverside High School. O''Rourke became a member of Congress Jan. 3. (Rudy Gutierrez/El Paso Times)

Improving health care for veterans and worries about construction of an international bridge at Yarbrough Drive were among issues U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke took up at a town hall meeting Saturday.

O'Rourke, D-El Paso, held his first town hall meeting at Riverside High School three weeks after being sworn in as the 16th District of Texas representative.

About 100 people attended the forum. A majority were veterans or soldiers.

Veteran Guillermo Aguilar said he has had problems getting medicine from the El Paso Veterans Affairs Health Care System.

"Each time I go they tell me to go find it at another pharmacy," Aguilar said. "I have panic attacks and nothing else works for me except that medication. I just want to feel normal. And now that I know what works for me, they don't want to give it to me."

O'Rourke agreed that there are problems at Veteran Affairs that need to be fixed. They include providing better service and easier access to records through a database.

"I have Netflix, and Netflix can tell me what I watched in July and what other shows or movies I may be interested in," O'Rourke said. "It can access my data from here and D.C. But the VA cannot link records from Waco, from Washington, D.C., or from El Paso. If Netflix, a much less important organization can do it, then so can the VA."

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O'Rourke said there is a need for a VA hospital in El Paso, and he mentioned the construction of the new Beaumont Army Medical Center on East Fort Bliss. The nearly $1 billion hospital is expected to be completed in 2016.

O'Rourke said the new hospital would make it possible to convert the existing hospital into a VA hospital.

"The nearest full-service VA hospital is in Albuquerque, N.M., which is a 10-hour round trip by car," O'Rourke said. "This is unacceptable."

O'Rourke also added that the construction of the new hospital should be an opportunity to bring more jobs into El Paso by hiring local contractors.

In response to fears about the possible construction of an international bridge on Yarbrough Drive, O'Rourke tried to ease concerns.

The Texas Metropolitan Planning Organization has maintained that there are no plans to build a bridge there.

Residents fear that a bridge might be in future plans.

"There is no proposed port of entry at Yarbrough," O'Rourke said. "I think it's important for the community to hear that from their congressman so that no one is living with anxiety about their homes being taken or a large amount of traffic moving through their neighborhood."

O'Rourke said that as a member of Congress and a member of the Homeland Security Committee, he could pursue additional money for the ports of entry and more customs and border patrol agents.

"If we employ the best practices and technologies so that we can move people and cargo efficiently, effectively and securely, then we can start to create some more jobs and build the economy here in El Paso," he said.

O'Rourke spoke about border safety, immigration reform and cheating in the El Paso Independent School District.

John Seymour, a history teacher with EPISD, asked what role Congress could play in the FBI's investigation of the district.

"I'd like to know what you can do to get the FBI to start completing the investigation so we can move forward and find out who the culprits are so we can hold them accountable," Seymour said.

O'Rourke, who this month sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice in which he supported the removal of the school board, said he had spoken with Department of Education officials about the investigation and an audit conducted by the department two years ago.

The audit is expected to be released in the spring.

"We will move forward and we will find out who is responsible for the failings of EPISD so that this does not happen again," O'Rourke said. "We must hold the Department of Education, the Texas Education Agency and EPISD accountable."